A fishing industry group in Fukushima has asked the company responsible for the damaged reactors, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), to find a way to keep more toxic water from pouring into the sea.

"Our prefecture's fishermen have lost their lives, fishing boats, piers and buildings due to the Great Eastern Japan Disaster," Federation Chairman Tetsu Nozaki wrote in a utility a letter of protest, The Associated Press reports. "This low-level contaminated water has raised fears among fishermen that they will never be able to fish in our prefecture's waters again, and we absolutely want you to stop."

Ibaraki fishers were already struggling as they worked to recover from the earthquake and tsunami that hit on 11 March and had managed to resume operations, said Tomoki Mashiko, assistant director at the fishing policy division of the prefectural government, reports Bloomberg.

In 2008, the prefecture produced 191,010 tonnes of fish worth USD 234 million, or 3.4 per cent of the country’s output, according to government figures.

“We expect Tokyo Electric to treat fishermen in the same way as it prepares to compensate farmers for their lost sales because of radioactive contamination,” Mashiko stated. “The prefecture will increase monitoring of marine products for radioactivity and decide which area and what type of fish are safe for commercial operations.”

TEPCO said it may give USD 12,000 to each household located near its broken Fukushima Daiichi power plant as a preliminary compensation payment probably by late April.

In the interim, businesses continue to remove Japanese seafood from their menus due to radiation concerns.

“Increased discovery of contaminated foods sapped consumer appetite for products made in Fukushima and surrounding areas,” said Takaki Shigemoto, commodity analyst at Tokyo-based JSC Corp. “Demand is shifting to foods from western Japan and overseas.”

India as already halted Japanese food imports for three months or until “credible information” on the radiation hazard is available, the health ministry informed. Additionally, Britain, China, Singapore and Hong Kong have banned some specific food items from Japan.

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